New Delhi: Semiconductor Complex Ltd (SCL), the hub of microelectronics activity in India, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Pioneer eLabs for providing e-governance solutions to various state government departments in north India.

With this strategic tie-up, SCL and Pioneer will provide software solutions for various government departments connected with land records management and citizen redressal systems. SCL and Pioneer are presently engaged in the digitisation and computerisation of land records in the state of Punjab.

The MoU between SCL and Pioneer was signed by SCL chairman and managing director Dr M J Zarabi and Pioneer managing director P Sridhar Reddy in the presence of senior company officials and distinguished gathering at the Elitex 2002 seminar.

Speaking on the occasion, Zarabi said: This step is in keeping with the recommendations of the national IT taskforce for the implementation of IT solutions in all government sectors by 2003. Through this tie-up we will help various government departments with the implementation of the recommendations of the IT taskforce and meeting the deadlines and standards on e-governance by providing integrated turnkey solutions.

Under this MoU both the companies shall be working together to give further impetus to the e-governance initiative of Punjab and other state governments. The consortium formed between the two companies will provide assistance from consulting on implementation of e-governance to a turnkey-based requirement suited to individual needs as well as offer smart-card-based solutions for various applications both for government and non-government sectors, including the citizen interface card.

SCL and Pioneer are slated to start work shortly on implementing an integrated governance solution for the Punjab state government designed for updating and maintaining land records by using Todarmal, the software designed by Pioneer. Through this tie-up, SCL and Pioneer will jointly implement various e-governance projects. The companies will jointly address the opportunities in the country for system integration through the development and implementation of holistic systems and software solutions.

Speaking on Pioneers role, Reddy said: Pioneer is an industry leader in the area of software design, architecture solutions, business process reengineering and software application development. Todarmal, integrated software for Punjab land records, is a first of its kind in the country, instead of the previous incremental approaches. The company has domain knowledge in more than 30 areas of e-governance. With this tie-up we look forward to wider coverage and increased thrust in the implementation of e-governance projects with the various government departments.

SCL DGM (IT) Manmohan Singh: This partnership will help various state governments to implement the land records management system (LRMS) expeditiously for inevitable citizen-government interface, and enabling the citizens of our country to have direct and speedy access to the requisite information and thereby providing a good governance and transparency in the system.